Comunicare Interpersonala Si Dinamica Relatiilor Interumane In Spatiul Virtual

Comunicare

Comunicare Interpersonala Si Dinamica Relatiilor Interumane In Spatiul Virtual

Byadmin ianuarie 1, 2024

Comunicare interpersonala si dinamica relatiilor interumane in spatiul virtual

Cuprins

Argument

Partea teoretica comunicare + psihologie

backgriund tematic , explicatie dpdv psihologic, identitatea individului

ipoteze de cercetare, mediul online,faciliteaza, personalititi multiple,

factorii care influenteaza , cunoasterea mai apropiata de persoane, e

Parte teoretica

Capitolul 1

Internetul si nevoia de interactiune

Internetul este instrumentul cu ajutorul caruia utilizatorii comunica virtual. Internetul se naste odata cu evolutia timpurie a calculatoarelor si retelelor de comunicare – in anul 1958 Compania Bell a realizat primul modem cu ajutorul caruia transmitea date binare pe o linie telefonica rudimentara. In anul 1962 incep investigatiile ARPA, o agentie a Ministerului Apararii din SUA unde se naste ideea unei retele globale de calculatoare. In 1967 are loc prima conferinta pe ARPANET. In 1989, 100.000 calculatoare sunt conectate pe aceasta retea. In 1991 ARPANET dispare penru ca in 1991 sa apara World Wide Web (www).

Aproape toate activitatile din spatiul virtual se adreseaza nevoii de interactiune interumana. Internetul este o lume alternativa, un univers reduplicat. In lumea virtuala se gaseste tot se gasim in lumea reala, lucruri bune si rele, simple sau complexe, morale sau imorale. Psihologul american John Suler a analizat comportamentul online si a descris mai multe divizionari ale motivelor navigarii pe internet:

nevoi fizice (hrana, imbracaminte, adapost) e-commerce

nevoi sexuale, majoritatea psihologilor il plaseaza in fruntea ierarhiei nevoilor, problema sexului online este complexa, este conectata cu alte nevoi sufletesti, sociale sau psihologice.

nevoia de modificare a starii de constiinta, fiinta umana are nevoie permanenta de a-si testa constiinta si a percepe diferit realitatea

nevoia de realizare

nevoia de apartenenta

nevoia de comunicare

nevoia de actualizare a sinelui

Tehnologia

J. Michael Jaffe spune ca internetul a fost creat sa ajute comunicarea intre guvern si oamenii de stiinta si expertii din aparerea nationala si nu a fost creat ca un cadru al „mass-media interpersonala” ceea ce a devenit momentan. Tehhnologia moderna permite comunicarea online prin diferite tipuri de instrumente: computer, telefon, tablet, laptop, smartphone si diferite aplicatii accesibile tuturora: email, skype, viber, chat rooms, jocuri online, lumi virtuale.

Chat room

Primul sistem chat-room sau comunitate online s-a numit Talkomatic si a fost creat in anul 1973 pe paltforma Plato a Universitatii Illinois de catre doi studenti. Oferea cateva canale de comunicare pe care puteau intra 5 persoane simultan.

Chat room se pot clasifica dupa

anonimitate:

ne-anonime, in care se cere numele adevarat

anonime (majoritatea)

comunitate – formate din grupuri de persoane cu experienta in diferite teme de abordare – Yahoo PalTalk

generale

limba utilizata – 80% din comunicare se face in limba engleza

numarul de utilizatori

reputatie

perioade de raspuns: sincrone cand se comunica live, audio sau video si asincrone cand nu se stie cand se primeste raspuns la mesajul trimis.

Online dating, matrimoniale

Persoanele in cautare de parteneri de viata sau relatii ocazionale se simt comfortabil cu ajutorul acestor posibilitati, fie ca isi gasesc sau nu parteneri. In Franta exista chiar un site pentru legaturi extraconjugale, a fost mediatizat si supus unor intrebari referitoare la moralul si etica acestui site care isi face reclama pe mijloacele de transport comun.

Social Media

Au fost create pentru a conecta persoane, prieteni, familii, grupuri de oameni care au interese comune, hobbi comun, relatii de business, profesionale. Un flux mare de informatii se transmite prin intermediul profilului utilizatorului, a fotografiilor pe care le expune. Cateva example: Facebook, LinkedIn, Google plus, Twitter, Myspace. Sunt utilizate de persoane de toate varstele, din toate mediile sociale dar cu precadere de catre tineri.

La ora actuala Facebook are peste 600 de milioane de utilizatori , exista cca 300 milioane de bloguri.

Partea practica

Second Life

Este o lume virtuală online, un program tridimensional, conceput in San Francisco de catre compania Linden Lab. A fost lansat la 23 iunie 2003 iar în anul 2014 avea 1 peste milion de utilizatori. Second Life este similar cu MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games). Cu toate acestea, Linden Lab neaga categoric similaritatea cu jocurile, ei afirma ca Second Life este o lume virtuala. Nu există conflict preconceput, obiective dinainte stabilie sau reguli impuse, efectiv nu are niciun scop final. Este o retea difersificata, de tip social, care face parte din fenomenul online numit Web 2.0.

Lumea virtuală poate fi accesata gratuit prin intermediul programului propriu. Exista si programe alternative dar acestea nu sunt sustinute de compania administratoare Linden Lab.

Utilizatorii isi creaza un avatar, o reprezentăre virtuale de sine, și sunt capabili de a interacționa cu alte avatare, locuri sau obiecte. Ei pot explora lumea, să interactioneze cu alti rezidenți, sa se socializeze, să participe la activități individuale și de grup, să construiască, să creeze magazine și sa faca comerț cu proprietati virtuale. Este posibila si creearea de galerii foto, de pictura, biblioteci, discoteci, cluburi si tot ceea ce fantezia si imaginatia umana permite, este nelimitat. Second Life are, de asemenea, propria monedă virtuală, dolarul Linden, care este interschimbabil cu dolarul american. Second Life este destinat persoanelor cu vârsta de peste 18 ani deoarece are sim-uri cu caracter matur. Insulele virtuale din Second Life se numesc sim (simulator). Pe fiecare sim este permis un numar limitat de constructii pentru ca daca este supraincarcat nu mai poate functiona, se prabuseste sau formeaza asa numitul „lag”. Programul de constructie din Second Life consta dintr-un instrument de modelare tridimensională bazat pe forme geometrice simple, care permite rezidenților sa formeze obiecte virtuale. Există, de asemenea, un limbaj de scripting procedural, Linden Scripting Language, care poate fi folosit pentru a adăuga interactivitate obiectelor. Texturile de îmbrăcăminte, mesh sau alte obiecte, animațiile si gesturile pot fi create folosind software provenind din mediul extern (Blender Avastar) care apoi sunt importate in Second Life. Termenii de serviciu prevad ca utilizatorii sa-si păstrează drepturile de autor pentru orice conținut pe care care il creează, iar serverul și clientul oferă funcții simple de Digital Rights. Utilizatorii pot, de asemenea, fotografia in Second Life cu tehnologia si aparatul de foto inclus in program. Un angajat al companiei americane Intel din Sillicon Valley a perfectionat un sistem de iluminare fotografica care permie ca umbra avatarelor reflectata pe perete sa apara in fotografii. El este foarte mandru de aceasta inventie care costa 7000 Lindeni, el isi face publicitea prin Youtube, Flickr si Facebook.

Istoric

In anul 1999, Philip Rosedale a infiintat Compania Linden Lab, cu intenția de a dezvolta un hardware de calculator, care ar permite utilizatorilor să construiasca o lume virtuală. Deși era familiar cu metaverse din romanul Snow Crash scris de Neal Stephenson, Rosedale a declarat că viziunea sa de lumi virtuale precede acea carte, și că el a efectuat experimente timpurii ale lumii virtuale în timpul anilor de facultate de la Universitatea din California, San Diego, unde a studiat fizica. Între anii 2005 – 2006, Second Life a primit un mare interes din partea mass-media, inclusiv un cover pe revista BusinessWeek, publicand despre lumea virtuala Second Life și avatarul Anshe Chung. Anshe Chung este o tanara orientala, o antreprenoare de real-estate virtual care zi si noapte era online. Anshe Chung a ajuns un simbol pentru oportunitățile economice pe care lumea virtuală le oferă rezidenților săi, ea devenind prima milionara din istoria lumii virtuale Second Life. În 2008, Second Life a primit Premiul Emmy tehnologic, pentru promovarea dezvoltării de site-uri on-line cu conținut generat de utilizator. În mai 2009, utilizatori simultani erau in medie de aproximativ 62.000.

În mai 2010, utilizatori simultani medie sunt de aproximativ 54.000. Declinul Second Life incepe cu interdictiile aduse de lege privind casinourile virtuale. În iunie 2010, Linden Lab a anunțat disponibilizări de 30% din forța de muncă.

În noiembrie 2010 au fost înregistrate 21300000 de conturi, desi compania nu prea mai facea publicitate, dar aceste conturi sunt multe alternative. Un utilizator poate avea personalitati multiple. Am antalnit indivizi cu cate 4-5 conturi, caractere de femei si barbati deopotriva. Nu mica mi-a fost mirarea sa descopar ca fiecare personalitate apartinind unui anume individ juca roluri diferite. Se intampla cand un caracter ma cunostea, vorbea cu mune iar un alt caracter al aceluias individ intentiona sa ma reclame la administratori cum ca il deranjez in munca lui de zi cu zi.

In 2001 Rosdale a avut o intalnire cu sponsorii Second Life unde a afirmat ca utilizatorii sunt interesati de partea creativa si comerciala. Sponsorii si branduri faimoase au intrat in lumea virtuala: Mc Donald’s, BMW, Coca Cola,Pepsi,Sony, Dell, Adidas, Peugeot. Rezidentii cumparau produse virtuale si le consumau virtual. IBM sponsoriza o insula unde se putea discuta despre ocrotirea sanatatii cu participarea psihologilor si medicilor.

În 2008, Second Life a primit Premiul Emmy tehnologic, pentru promovarea dezvoltării de site-uri on-line cu conținut generat de utilizator. În mai 2009, utilizatori simultani erau in medie de aproximativ 62.000.

În mai 2010, utilizatori simultani medie sunt de aproximativ 54.000. Declinul Second Life incepe cu interdictiile aduse de lege privind casinourile virtuale. În iunie 2010, Linden Lab a anunțat disponibilizări de 30% din forța de muncă.

În noiembrie 2010 au fost înregistrate 21300000 de conturi, desi compania nu prea mai facea publicitate, dar aceste conturi sunt multe alternative. Un utilizator poate avea personalitati multiple. Am antalnit indivizi cu cate 4-5 conturi, caractere de femei si barbati deopotriva. Nu mica mi-a fost mirarea sa descopar ca fiecare personalitate apartinind unui anume individ juca roluri diferite. Se intampla cand un caracter ma cunostea, vorbea cu mine iar un alt caracter al aceluias individ intentiona sa ma reclame la administratori cum ca il deranjez in munca lui de zi cu zi. Aceste conturi multiple numite Alt, sunt permise de catre Linden lab maximum se conturi pot fi 5

In 2001 Rosdale a avut o intalnire cu sponsorii Second Life unde a afirmat ca utilizatorii sunt interesati de partea creativa si comerciala. Sponsorii si branduri faimoase au intrat in lumea virtuala. Rezidentii cumparau produse virtuale si le consumau virtual. IBM sponsoriza o insula destinata ocrotirea sanatatii cu participarea unor persoane cu diferite disabilitati.

Second Life ofera 2 platforme, una pentru adulti de (18+) si cealalta pentru adolescenti. Platforma destinata adultilor are trei zone:

Zona generala – nu este permisa violenta, aici au loc cursuri pentru studenti, cursuri de ajutor medical, exista cabinet de psihologie si firme de detectivi. Mai au loc concerte de muzica, expozitii, aici sunt construite orasele virtuale printre care as mentiona: Paris, New York, Bucuresti, unde constructorii reproduc cladiri faimoase ale oraselor. Este un PR excelent. Avatarele pot sa se deplaseze cu ajutorul unor vehicule virtuale: avioane, masini, vapoare, iahturi, biciclete, motoare.

Moderat – este permis minimum de violenta, minimum de nuditate

Adult – aici se desfasoara actiuni cu continut specific destinat adultilor.

Conturile utilizatorilor pot fi gratuite si cu plata. Un Cont Premium costa 9.95 dolari/luna, deci 72 dolari anual. Anual se acorda si dobanzi acestor utilizatori care platesc. Avatarele pot lua diferite forme: aici se desfasoara actiuni cu continut specific destinat adultilor.

Conturile utilizatorilor pot fi gratuite si cu plata. Un Cont Premium costa 9.95 dolari/luna, deci 72 dolari anual. Anual se acorda si dobanzi acestor utilizatori care platesc. Avatarele pot lua diferite forme: umanoid, robot, animal ori pot alege sa arate ca in viata reala. Comunicarea se petrecce prin chat deschis, grup chat, chat privat si prin voce.

Second Life are o economie internă proprie și valutară proprie bazata pe dolarul Linden (L $ ) . L $ este folosit pentru a cumpăra , vinde, închiria sau comercializa terenuri, marfa sau servicii. Linden se poate converta contra dolari SUA sau alte valute de pe piață . Rapoarte Linden Lab arata că economia Second Life a generat inSUA 3,596,674 dolari în activitatea economică în luna septembrie 2005 . În 2009 , dimensiunea totală a economiei Second Life a crescut cu 65% la 567 milioane dolari SUA , aproximativ 25 % din întreaga piață de comert virtual din SUA . În 2013 Linden Lab a lansat un grafic din care reiese ca in decurs de 10 ani traficul comercial a ajuns la 3,2 miliarde $ , cu o medie de 1,2 milioane tranzactii pe zi . Obiectele de tranzactie virtuala, marfa contine: constructii, vehicule, haine, par, bijuterii, obiecte de arta, texturi, animatii. Nu toti rezidentii au posibilitatea unor profituri mari.

Some people are ready to have multiple identities.

At one point the University provided Internet connections to the 'Boys Grammar School' and the 'Girls Grammar School'. The headmaster of the Boys Grammar School insisted that the University block Internet porn sites from being avaiable to the boys, because (for some reason) he thought the boys might try and view them.

The headmistress of the Girls Grammar School was NOT concerned, she didn't think the girls would be intersted. It happened that my daughter was a pupil at the Girls Grammar School at the time, and, as soon as she got on an Internet enabled computer, she discovered 'chat rooms'. And minutes later she had invented a personna for herself of a (male) Scottish Crofter (subsistance farmer) and was 'out there' role playing. She told me she had no idea why she adopted that particular identity. And the Internet computers were full of teenage girls chatting.

By the time my son went to the Boys Grammar School (eight years later) everyone was connected to the Internet. And Thom kept in connact with all his friends by Instant Message (it was pre-Facebook) swapping notes about homework and music gigs.

Aged about 10 or 11, Thom played a text only Space War which involved 'tribes' fighting each other. Thom claimed to be 19 to the other online players and took the role of a 'spy'.

The things I put on Facebook are different to what I put on Flickr and Twitter. I am aware then even these fully public site display slightly different versions of myself.

This indicates to me that:

a) we should avoid cliches.

b) people are more ready than they admit (or realise), to have 'virtual personas'.

Accessibility[edit]

Alternative user interfaces[edit]

Since the Second Life viewer was made open-source, a number of accessibility solutions have been developed (listed in chronological order):

A modification of the Second Life viewer has been developed that allows users who are visually impaired to navigate their avatar using force feedback.[44] Different object types are distinguished through different vibration frequencies.

TextSL[45] is a web-based client developed by the University of Nevada that allows users who are visually impaired to access Second Life using built in speech synthesis. TextSL allows users who are visually impaired to navigate, communicate with avatars and interact with objects[46] using a command based interface inspired by the Zork adventure game. This web interface is also accessible using a smartphone.

IBM's Human Ability and Accessibility Center, with the IBM Virtual Universe Community,[47] developed a Web based interface for Second Life[48] that can be accessed with a screen reader. This client provides basic navigation, communication, and perception functions using hotkeys.

Max, The Virtual Guidedog,[49] developed by Virtual Helping Hands,[50] offers a virtual guide dog object that can be "worn" by a user's avatar. The guidedog provides a number of functions such as navigation and querying the environment through a chat-like interface. Feedback is provided using synthetic speech.

METAbolt[51] is an open source text client developed by the METAbolt Development Team which is fully accessible and also compatible with accessibility client applications (Microsoft platforms only) such as JAWS.

SLTalker[47] is a talker-like (text-based) interface for Second Life. The user can connect to it using telnet-ssl or any talker or MUD client that supports SSL secure connections.

A study showed that one of the biggest barriers to making Second Life accessible to visually impaired users is its apparent lack of metadata, such as names and descriptions, for virtual world objects. This is a similar problem for the accessibility of the web, where images may lack alternative tags. The study found that 32% of the objects in Second Life are simply named "object", and up to 40% lack accurate names.[46]

Language localization[edit]

In 2007, Brazil became the first country to have its own independently run portal to Second Life, operated by an intermediary—although the actual Second Life grid accessed through the Brazilian portal is the same as that used by the rest of the worldwide customer base. The portal, called "Mainland Brazil", is run by Kaizen Games, making Kaizen the first partner in Linden's "Global Provider Program".[52] In October 2007, Linden Lab signed a second "Global Provider Program" with T-Entertainment Co., LTD., Seoul, South Korea and T-Entertainment's portal called "SERA Korea" serves as a gateway to Second Life Grid. Previously, starting in late 2005, Linden Lab had opened and run their own welcome area portals and regions for German, Korean, and Japanese language speakers.[53]

Public chat within the world supports many written languages and character sets, providing the ability for people to chat in their native languages. Several resident-created translation devices provide machine translation of public chat (using various online translation services), allowing for communication between residents who speak different languages. Most versions of the viewer have language translation built into them. Within the current generation of the Second Life viewer, Linden Labs has incorporated language translation from Google.

Land ownership[edit]

Main article: Real estate (Second Life)

Premium membership allows the Resident to own land, with the first 512 m² (of main land owned by a holder of a Premium account) free of the usual monthly land use fee (referred to by residents as tier, because it is charged in tiers). There is no upper limit on tier; at the highest level, the user pays US$295 for their first 65,536 m².[54] Any land must first be purchased from either Linden Lab or a private seller.

There are four types of land regions; mainland, private region, homestead, and openspace. A region comprises an area of 65,536 m2 (16.194 acres) in area, being 256 meters on each side. Mainland regions form one continuous land mass, while private regions are islands. Openspace regions may be either mainland or private, but have lower prim limits and traffic use levels than mainland regions. The owners of a private region enjoy access to some additional controls that are not available to mainland owners; for example, they have a greater ability to alter the shape of the land. Residents must own a region (either mainland or private) to qualify for purchasing an openspace region.

Linden Lab usually sells only complete 65,536 m2 (16.194 acres) regions at auction (although smaller parcels are auctioned on occasion, typically land parcels abandoned by users who have left). Once Residents buy land, they may resell it freely and use it for any purpose that is not prohibited by the Second Life terms of service.

Residents may also choose to purchase, or rent, land from another Resident (a Resident landlord) rather than from Linden Lab. On a private region, the built-in land selling controls allow the landlord to sell land in the region to another Resident while still retaining some control. Residents purchasing, or renting, land from any other party than Linden Lab are not required to hold a Premium membership nor to necessarily pay a tier fee, although typically the landlord will require some form of upfront or monthly fee to compensate them for their liability to pay the land use fee charged by Linden Lab. However Linden Lab acknowledges only the landlord as the owner of the land, and will not intervene in disputes between Residents. This means, for example, that a landlord can withdraw a Resident's land from availability, without refunding their money, and Linden Lab will not arbitrate in the dispute unless it is a clear-cut matter of 'land fraud'. Users can report such matters to Linden Lab if they occur and they will look into it.

For mainland fees, the fee determines only the area of land available; the number of prims available is determined by the land itself. Some mainland regions offer more prims in the same land area. For non-mainland fees, the fee sets both the land area and the prim count.

There are only a few grandfathered "high prim" islands, which are otherwise identical to regular islands but have a higher limit set in the server software. They can be resold but are rarely available for purchase.

Grids[edit]

The grid is made of regions, each a square of side 256 (= 28) meters. Regions without servers appear as deep sea and cannot be entered and cannot be flown over, but regions with servers can be seen across regions without servers. But, a user's "point of view" can enter a region without a server.

The full grid is a square with sides of 228 meters, for a total area of 72×109 km2, roughly 140 times the Earth's surface area. It supports up to 240 (more than 1012) regions. But all or most regions with servers are in the extreme northwest corner of this vast theoretical area.[56] As of April 2011, 2,059.86 km2 of this area was allocated to 31431 actual regions,[57] a little smaller than the country of Luxembourg.

Before January 20, 2011, there appeared to be two age-differentiated grids; they were actually two rigidly-isolated parts of one grid. When it originally started, only people 18 years and over could join. However, after much controversy about underage people joining,[2] Linden Lab created the Teen Grid, which was for those ages 13–17. When teens turned 18, providing documentation verifying their age, they would be transferred to the Main Grid. Linden Lab received controversy for the lack of integration between teens and adults. Some parents protested that they could not be on the grid together with their teenage children, and companies could not market to both teens and adults in Second Life even though their products had universal appeal. [3] This grid merge was widely supported by teen grid residents, but some also opposed it. Some Linden Lab employees were also in favor of merging the grids, most notably Blue Linden, former teen grid manager.

Since June 9, 2012, Second Life has revised its age verification process; Users under 16 years of age are not allowed in 'Second Life, and if anyone is under reasonable suspicion of being underage, their account may be suspended until their age can be verified. [4] Whereas before, one could present legitimate documentation to prove that they had turned of age, mature areas now only show a warning message and rely on the user's own judgement and consent to proceed. [5]

Some regions of the grid are intended to recreate famous places or cities that exist in real life or fiction.[58][59]

Technology[edit]

Second Life comprises the viewer (also known as the client) executing on the user's personal computer, and several thousand servers operated by Linden Lab.

Client[edit]

Linden Lab provides official viewers for Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, and most distributions of Linux. The viewer renders 3D graphics using OpenGL technology. The viewer source code was released under the GPL in 2007[60][61] and moved to the LGPL in 2010.[62]

There are now several mature third party viewer projects that contain features not available in the Linden Lab 'Official' client, target other platforms or cater to specialist & accessibility needs.[63] The main focus of third party development is exploring new ideas and working with Linden Lab to deliver new functionality.[64]

An independent project, libopenmetaverse,[65] offers a function library for interacting with Second Life servers. libopenmetaverse has been used to create non-graphic third party viewers.

There are several Alternate Viewers published by Linden Lab used for software testing by volunteers for early access to upcoming projects.[66] Some of these clients only function on the "beta grid" consisting of a limited number of regions running various releases of unstable test server code.

Server[edit]

Each full region (an area of 256×256 meters) in the Second Life "grid" runs on a single dedicated core of a multi-core server. Homestead regions share 3 regions per core and Openspace Regions share 4 regions per core, running proprietary software on Debian Linux. These servers run scripts in the region, as well as providing communication between avatars and objects present in the region.

Every item in the Second Life universe is referred to as an asset. This includes the shapes of the 3D objects known as primitives, the digital images referred to as textures that decorate primitives, digitized audio clips, avatar shape and appearance, avatar skin textures, LSL scripts, information written on notecards, and so on. Each asset is referenced with a universally unique identifier or UUID.[67]

Assets are stored on Isilon Systems storage clusters,[68] comprising all data that has ever been created by anyone who has been in the Second Life world. Infrequently used assets are offloaded to S3 bulk storage.[69] As of December 2007, the total storage was estimated to consume 100 terabytes of server capacity.[70] The asset servers function independently of the region simulators, though the region simulators request object data from the asset servers when a new object loads into the simulator.[citation needed]

Each server instance runs a physics simulation to manage the collisions and interactions of all objects in that region. Objects can be nonphysical and non-moving, or actively physical and movable. Complex shapes may be linked together in groups of up to 256 separate primitives. Additionally, each player's avatar is treated as a physical object so that it may interact with physical objects in the world. As of 9 July 2014, Second Life simulators use theHavok 2011.2 physics engine for all in-world dynamics.[71] This engine is capable of simulating thousands of physical objects at once.[72]

Linden Lab pursues the use of open standards technologies, and uses free and open source software such as Apache, MySQL, Squid and Linux.[73] The plan is to move everything to open standards by standardizing the Second Life protocol. Cory Ondrejka, former CTO[74] of Second Life, has stated that a while after everything has been standardized, both the client and the server will be released as free and open source software.[75]

OpenSimulator[edit]

Main article: OpenSimulator

In January 2007, OpenSimulator was founded as an open source simulator project. The aim of this project is to develop a full open source server software for Second Life clients. OpenSIM is BSD Licensed and it is written in C#and can run under Mono environment. In 2008 there were some alternative grids[76] using OpenSimulator.

Virtual technology[edit]

A virtual commercial airliner

The graphics, the Linden Scripting Language, and the Havok physics engine enable the simulation of various real or imagined machines and devices. There are many light houses, some with detailed Fresnel lenses. Steam punk buoyant airships are also common. There are combat weapons systems. A large part of the Linden Scripting Language Guide describes the features available for modeling vehicles. Popular uses of this include cars, boats, motorcycles and airplanes. Manned vehicles have advantages, but there can also be autonomous or remotely controlled vehicles.

A major obstacle is region (sim) border crossings, which unlike cell phone handoffs, are a problem for users, even at walking speed. Recent work by Linden Lab has greatly improved this, and if the user in question has few resources assigned to him or her, the crossing can be almost seamless.

Second Life "physics" (based on computer game physics) consists mostly of avoidance of interpenetration of avatars and other "physical" objects with other objects, "physical" or not; but for "physical" objects, most importantly vehicles, there is an approximation of real world motion. Avatars can "sit" on vehicles and their users can control them. The scripting language includes many system calls specialized for vehicles, to define their movement and control, but the correspondence to real world motion is not quantitatively defined. Second Life vehicles typically act like real world vehicles only in superficial ways. To some extent, the differences are needed to deal with the sim crossing problem (including the oldest known bug in the Second Life software), the time step (at best about 1/40 sec.) the Internet communication latency (lag), and so forth. For some types of moving objects, a fairly high degree of realism is possible within these limits, but, with the provided system calls, simpler motions are easier to script.

Applications[edit]

Social network[edit]

Second Life can be a real-time, immersive social space for people including those with physical or mental disabilities that impair their first lives, who often find comfort and security interacting through anonymous avatars. (Indeed, some academics believe using Second Life might even help improve motor ability for people with Parkinson’s.)[77]

Education[edit]

Main article: Education in Second Life

Second Life is used as a platform for education by many institutions, such as colleges, universities, libraries and government entities.

Since 2008, the University of San Martin de Porres of Peru[78] has been developing Second Life prototypes of Peruvian archeological buildings, and training teachers for this new paradigm of education.

Arts[edit]

Main article: Arts in Second Life

Second Life residents express themselves creatively through virtual world adaptations of art exhibits, live music,[79] live theater[80] and machinima,[81] as well as other art forms.

Science[edit]

Second Life is used for scientific research, collaboration, and data visualization.[82] Examples include SciLands, American Chemical Society's ACS Island, Genome, Virginia Tech's SLATE, and Nature Publishing Group's Elucian Islands Village.

Work solutions[edit]

Second Life gives companies the option to create virtual workplaces to allow employees to virtually meet, hold events, practice any kind of corporate communications, conduct training sessions in 3D immersive virtual learning environment, simulate business processes, and prototype new products.

Religion[edit]

Religious organizations have also begun to open virtual meeting places within Second Life. In early 2007, LifeChurch.tv, a Christian church headquartered in Edmond, Oklahoma, and with eleven campuses in the US, created "Experience Island" and opened its twelfth campus in Second Life.[83] The church reported "We find that this creates a less-threatening environment where people are much more willing to explore and discuss spiritual things".[citation needed] In July 2007, an Anglican cathedral[84] was established in Second Life; Mark Brown, the head of the group that built the cathedral, noted that there is "an interest in what I call depth, and a moving away from light, fluffy Christianity".[85]

The First Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Second Life was established in 2006. Services have been held regularly making the FUUCSL Congregation one of the longest-running active congregations in Second Life.[86]

The Egyptian-owned news website Islam Online has purchased land in Second Life to allow Muslims and non-Muslims alike to perform the ritual of Hajj in virtual reality form, obtaining experience before actually making the pilgrimage to Mecca in person.[87]

Second Life also offers several groups that cater to the needs and interests of Humanists, atheists, agnostics, and freethinkers. One of the most active groups is SL Humanism which has been holding weekly discussion meetings inside Second Life every Sunday since 2006.[88]

Embassies[edit]

The Maldives was the first country to open an embassy in Second Life.[89][90] The Maldives' embassy is located on Second Life's "Diplomacy Island", where visitors will be able to talk face-to-face with a computer-generated ambassador about visas, trade and other issues. "Diplomacy Island" also hosts Diplomatic Museum and Diplomatic Academy. The Island is established by DiploFoundation as part of the Virtual Diplomacy Project.[91]

In May 2007,[92] Sweden became the second country to open an embassy in Second Life. Run by the Swedish Institute, the embassy serves to promote Sweden's image and culture, rather than providing any real or virtual services.[93] The Swedish Minister for Foreign Affairs, Carl Bildt, stated on his blog that he hoped he would get an invitation to the grand opening.[94]

In September 2007, Publicis Group announced the project of creating a Serbia island as a part of a project Serbia Under Construction. The project is officially supported by Ministry of Diaspora of Serbian Government. It was stated that the island will feature Nikola Tesla Museum, Guča trumpet festival and Exit festival.[95] It was also planned on opening a virtual info terminals of Ministry of Diaspora.[96]

On Tuesday December 4, 2007, Estonia became the third country to open an embassy in Second Life.[97][98] In September 2007, Colombia and Serbia opened embassies.[99] As of 2008, Macedonia and the Philippines have opened embassies in the "Diplomatic Island" of Second Life.[100] In 2008, Albania opened an Embassy in the Nova Bay location. SL Israel was inaugurated in January 2008 in an effort to showcase Israel to a global audience, though without any connection to official Israeli diplomatic channels.[101]

Malta and Djibouti are also planning to open virtual missions in Second Life.[102]

Competitive entertainment[edit]

Main article: Recreation in Second Life

A wide variety of recreational activities, both competitive and non-competitive, take place on the Second Life Grid, including both traditional sports and video game-like scenarios.

Relationships[edit]

Relationships are common in Second Life, including some couples who have married online.[103] The social engagement offered by the online environment helps those who might be socially isolated. In addition, sex is often encountered.[104] However, to access the adult sections requires age verification.[105] There is also a large BDSM community.[106]

Second Life relationships have been taken from virtual online relationships into personal, real-world relationships. Booperkit Moseley and Shukran Fahid were possibly the first couple to meet in Second Life and then marry in real life. Booperkit travelled to America to meet Shukran and he returned to England with her after one week. They met in 2005 and were married in 2006. They currently live in the UK with 4-year-old twin sons. Some couples meet online, form friendships, and eventually move to finding one another in the real world.[citation needed] Some even have their weddings on Second Life, as well as in a real-world setting.[107]

Relationships in virtual worlds have an added dimension compared to other social media, because avatars give a feeling of proximity making the voyeur experience more intense than simply a textual encounter. The complexities of those encounters depend on the engagement levels of the people behind the avatars, whether they are engaging Disassociatively (entertainment only), Immersively (as if the avatar was them), or Augmentively (meaning they engage for a real life purpose).[108]

Role-playing[edit]

Role-play at the 1920s Berlin Project

Insilico Mars science fiction role-play

There are many destinations within Second Life which are dedicated to those who enjoy role-playing. Some of these are targeted for adults, but there are also many which focus on other themes, such as fantasy, history, science fiction. or other subjects. Many of these types of worlds have very specific sets of rules that each avatar who visits is expected to follow. Such rules can include things such as a dress code, a code of behavior, and world guidelines. If these rules are not followed, the avatar can be booted from the world by a game administrator. One example of one of these role-playing worlds is "The Realm of Valahari". This particular world takes place in a fantasy medieval setting. In order to exist within that world, your avatar must be dressed in fantasy or medieval attire. In case your avatar does not already own such clothing, the world provides clothing shops for you in an area which you visit before you actually enter the world. However, none of these clothing shops provide free items; all of them cost Linden Dollars (L$). Within the world, everyone is also expected to maintain the role-playing atmosphere. Anyone who is using "regular" or "everyday" language tends to be frowned upon and seen as an outsider by the other members of the Realm. "Regular" language is to be kept in private chat windows, so that the fantasy/medieval atmosphere is not polluted by it.

Another example is a historical role-playing sim, The 1920s Berlin Project, where visitors are required to dress accurately as part of the history based immersive experience. Sims may incorporate rules that have less to do with thematic realism, and more to do with adhering to community guidelines. For instance, one rule that is commonly seen is the prohibition or restriction of underage avatars in role-playing sims that feature adult content; these rules are separate from Linden Labs' sim restrictions, as they restrict underage characters played by adult players.

Role-play sims are usually either non-metered, script metered, or use the sim server health meter. In non-metered combat sims, all fighting is done through paragraph RP, usually with the assistance of role-play dice, or the players may determine the outcome they desire privately in IMs, and then role-play out the ending in character using public chat. In metered combat sims, players carry weapons that are scripted to act in conjunction with the meter. Players are then able to fight using these weapons and/or any capabilities built into the meter itself until one player's health expires and they "die". They are either resurrected by another player, automatically revive after a certain period of time, or are returned to their home sim position with their full health restored. Some metered combat sims allow for non-metered combat to be used under certain circumstances; in these cases, the method of combat used depends upon preferences of the participants in a given scene.

The integration between content purchases and provision of role-playing content has occasionally caused controversy in Second Life.[citation needed] Some examples include:

a user may use real money, transferred via L$, to purchase clothing or items for a role-playing area, only to be banned from that area and have the value of those items wiped out;

"Intrusive role-play", in which avatars role-play in a disruptive way in areas that are not intended for role-playing, has caused problems in the past. Examples include avatars dressing as police officers and claiming to have authority over areas that have nothing to do with them, or a previously sold system which allowed avatars to play vampires and "bite" any other avatar to "steal their soul"; some new users were convinced this would have a permanent effect on their avatar and even paid to purchase role-playing items to restore their soul, unaware that the effect was entirely irrelevant if the player did not wish to participate in the vampire role-play;

the range of avatar costumes and items available is much greater than the range of role-play areas and the range of playable social roles, meaning that users may purchase items not realizing that the role they are advertised as providing cannot exist. This also applies to weapons, which are regulated differently across different role-playing sims or chains of sims;

some metered combat systems allow affiliated merchants to develop weapons using their system's API. This allows those merchants to develop and sell weapons that deal additional damage or have other mechanical effects on combat; these weapons are often more expensive than similar weapons that do not incorporate these enhancements. Depending upon the specifics of the API, a merchant's weapons may end up being more powerful than the combat system's developer intended.[109] In these cases, the merchant's API privileges may be revoked, resulting in both the developer's new and pre-existing weapons losing their special abilities. This eliminates much of the value of the weapons, which have already been purchased by users using L$.

Criticism and controversy[edit]

Main article: Criticism of Second Life

A number of difficult issues have arisen around Second Life. Issues range from the technical (budgeting of server resources), to moral (pornography), to legal (legal position of the Linden Dollar, Bragg v. Linden Lab). Security issues have also been a concern.

Regulation[edit]

In the past, large portions of the Second Life economy consisted of businesses that are now regulated or banned. Changes to Second Life‍ 's Terms of Service in this regard have largely had the purpose of bringing activity withinSecond Life into compliance with various international laws, even though the person running the business may be in full compliance with the law in their own country. Linden Lab offer no compensation for businesses that are damaged or destroyed by these rule changes, which can render significant expenditure or effort worthless.

On July 26, 2007, Linden Lab announced a ban on in-world gambling, in fear[citation needed] that new regulations on Internet gambling could affect Linden Lab if it was permitted to continue. The ban was immediately met with in-world protests.[110]

In August 2007, a $750,000 in-world bank called Ginko Financial collapsed due to a bank run triggered by Linden Lab's ban on gambling,[citation needed] which halved the size of the Second Life economy.[citation needed] The aftershocks of this collapse caused severe liquidity problems for other virtual "banks", which critics had long asserted were scams. On Tuesday, January 8, 2008 Linden Lab announced the upcoming prohibition of payment of fixed interest on cash deposits in unregulated banking activities in-world.[111] All banks without real-world charters closed or converted to virtual joint stock companies by January 22, 2008.[112] After the ban, a few companies continue to offer non-interest bearing deposit accounts to residents, such as the e-commerce site XStreet, which had already adopted a zero-interest policy 3 months before the Linden Lab interest ban.

Technical issues[edit]

Due to Second Life‍ 's rapid growth rate, it has suffered from difficulties related to system instability. These include increased system latency, and intermittent client crashes. However, some faults are caused by the system's use of an "asset server" cluster, on which the actual data governing objects is stored separately from the areas of the world and the avatars that use those objects. The communication between the main servers and the asset cluster appears to constitute a bottleneck which frequently causes problems.[113][114][115] Typically, when asset server downtime is announced, users are advised not to build, manipulate objects, or engage in business, leaving them with little to do but chat and generally reducing confidence in all businesses on the grid.

A more disturbing fact, believed to be caused by the same issue, is "inventory loss"[116][117][118] in which items in a user's inventory, including those which have been paid for, can disappear without warning or permanently enter a state where they will fail to appear in-world when requested (giving an "object missing from database" error). Linden Lab offers no compensation for items that are lost in this way, although a policy change instituted in 2008 allows accounts to file support tickets when inventory loss occurs. Many in-world businesses will attempt to compensate for this or restore items, although they are under no obligation to do so and not all are able to do so. A recent change in how the company handles items which have "lost their parent directory" means that inventory loss is much less of a problem and resolves faster than in recent years. "Loss to recovery times" have gone from months (or never) to hours or a day or two for the majority of users, but inventory loss does still exist.

Second Life functions by streaming all data to the user live over the Internet with minimal local caching of frequently used data. The user is expected to have a minimum of 300kbit/s of Internet bandwidth for basic functionality, with 1Mbit/s providing better performance. Due to the proprietary communications protocols, it is not possible to use a network proxy/caching service to reduce network load when many people are all using the same location, such as when used for group activities in a school or business.

Needs to hold a meeting of more people than can be supported by a region's server, has prompted a behavior called "four-cornering", i.e. meeting where four regions with servers all meet; this is unwelcome, as it tends to put excessive load on the system sending object and texturing information and inter-user messages between those four regions' servers.

In some cases the Lindens told people who had months (or years) of critically bad simulator performance that they changed the simulator server it fixed the problem permanently. This proves the existence of invisible host classes that are persistent/permanent despite repeated server reboots, can be permanently changed by the Lindens for a specific land, are invisible to the user in all circumstances aside from the extreme performance difference, and have identical land fees being paid to Linden Lab. This has been nicknamed the 'host lottery problem'. [6]

Fraud and intellectual property protection[edit]

Although Second Life‍ 's client and server incorporate Digital Rights Management technology, the visual data of an object must ultimately be sent to the client in order for it to be drawn; thus unofficial third-party clients can bypass them. One such program, CopyBot, was developed in 2006 as a debugging tool to enable objects to be backed up, but was immediately hijacked for use in copying objects; additionally, programs that generally attack client-side processing of data, such as GLIntercept, can copy certain pieces of data. Such use is prohibited under the Second Life TOS[119] and could be prosecuted under the DMCA.

Linden Lab may ban a user who is observed using CopyBot or a similar client, but it will not ban a user simply for uploading or even selling copied content; in this case, Linden Lab's enforcement of intellectual property law is limited to that required by the "safe harbor" provisions of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, which requires filing a real-life lawsuit. Although a few high-profile businesses in Second Life have filed such lawsuits,[120][121][122][123][124] none of the cases filed to date have gone to trial, and most have been dismissed pursuant to a settlement agreement reached between the parties.[125][126][127] Overall, the majority of businesses inSecond Life do not make enough money for a lawsuit to be worthwhile, or due to real-life work commitments, they cannot devote enough time to complete one. As a result, many Second Life businesses and their intellectual property remains effectively unprotected. Another case where settlement and dismissal was gained may be found in the matter of Eros, LLC v. Linden Research, Inc. As of October 7, 2010, the case was transferred to private mediation and the plaintiffs filed for dismissal of charges on March 15, 2011.[128]

There have also been issues with the use of false DMCA takedown notices.[129] Once a DMCA takedown notice is served, reversing it requires an individual to expose his personal information to the filer (filing a notice does not require this); for the penalty of perjury to be enacted, a lawsuit is required (anything less, the false DMCA claimer can just claim it from a different account every week causing legitimate business unlimited losses). In addition, the technical process of removal and re-instatement of content on Second Life is subject to failure which can result in content becoming unusable to its owner. This does not effectively prevent content theft; a thief who is subject to a DMCA takedown notice will not challenge it, but will simply create a new account and re-upload the content, often releasing it with all permissions available to maximize propagation out of spite.

Most users in the world as paying, private individuals are, likewise, effectively unprotected. Common forms of fraud taking place in-world include bogus investment and pyramid schemes, fake or hacked vendors, and failure to honor land rental agreements. A group of virtual landowners online have filed a class action lawsuit against the company, claiming the company broke the law when it rescinded their ownership rights. The plaintiffs say a change in the terms of service forced them to either accept new terms that rescinded their virtual property ownership rights, or else be locked out of the site.[130]

In 2013, Jean-Loup Richet, a research fellow at ESSEC ISIS, surveyed new money laundering techniques that cybercriminals were using.[131] In his report written for the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, he outlined the fact that an increasingly common way of laundering money was to use online gaming. According to Jean-Loup Richet, in a growing number of cases, cybercriminals used Second Life to convert dirty money into virtual goods, services or virtual cash that were later converted back easily into money.[132]

The Emerald client and in-world logging scripts[edit]

The Emerald client was developed by a group of users based on an open-source branch of the Snowglobe viewer. Several groups alleged that the Emerald viewer contained Trojan code which tracked user details and demographics in a way that the developers could later recover (via in-world logging scripts), one of these groups was banned from Second Life by Linden Lab after publishing their discovery.[133] Shortly afterward, it was discovered that one of the members of the Emerald team had attempted to use the viewer to (allegedly) DDOS another website. In response, Linden Lab revoked Emerald's third-party viewer approval and permanently banned several of Emerald's developers. Due to what happened with Emerald, Linden Lab instituted a new third-party viewer policy [134] The support staff and a developer (the main developers left Second Life development/were barred from further development) of the Emerald project left to work on a new viewer project, Phoenix (simply a rebranded Emerald), that did not contain any malicious code. The Phoenix team are now the developers behind Firestorm Viewer and work closely alongside Linden Lab, holding monthly joint meetings with all third party viewers.[135] There is in fact a lot in question about the take down of Emerald. Emerald had grown popular to the point they were stalling Linden Lab's ability to update the default viewer, and were virtually required to merge updated the Emerald Team would fold in. The lead, and almost sole developer of Emerald refused to placate to Linden Lab's, black listing of Emerald was surrounded in controversy, yet Linden Lab's alleged it was due to an unconfirmed DDOS attack built into the "log in" feature. The amount of log ins per hour to Second Life (Therefor through Emerald) were not substantial enough for an effective DDOS attack, therefore it is questionable exactly what the black listing was about. None of the developers from Emerald moved to the Phoenix team, the majority are black listed and barred from ever developing a TPV, and thus, cannot be in the Phoenix Team. The Phoenix Team consists mainly of support staff who worked question and answer sections, and had very basic loose understanding of coding a viewer. One such individual "Liny Odell" attempted to gain the Genesis Source code in order to simply make "Moys Mix" style updates to Phoenix, as the team was incapable of doing so on its own.

Ban of Woodbury University[edit]

The controversial campus ofWoodbury University's School of Media, Culture and Design, that was deleted in 2010 by Linden Lab

Linden Lab has twice, in 2007 and 2010, banned a California educational institution, Woodbury University, from having a representation within Second Life. On April 20, 2010, four simulators belonging to the university were deleted and the accounts of several students and professors terminated, according to The Chronicle of Higher Education. Professor Edward Clift, Dean of the School of Media, Culture and Design at Woodbury University, told The Chronicle of Higher Education that their campus "was a living, breathing campus in Second Life", including educational spaces designed mostly by students, such as a mock representation of the former Soviet Union and a replica of the Berlin Wall. According to Professor Clift, the virtual campus did not "conform to what Linden Lab wanted a campus to be."[136][137][138]

The article in The Chronicle of Higher Education concluded with: "Meanwhile, many people in Second Life expressed on blogs that they were glad to see the virtual campus go, arguing that it had been a haven for troublemakers in the virtual world."[137]

References in popular culture[edit]

Main article: Second Life in popular culture

In an episode of The Office, Jim creates a Second Life character to offset Dwight.[citation needed]

In 2007, the game makes an appearance in two fourth season episodes ("Down the Rabbit Hole" and "DOA for a Day") of CSI: NY.[139]

In an episode of The Suite Life on Deck, Woody gets addicted to Better Life, a parody of Second Life.

The series True Life did an episode that involved Second Life. The episode, called "True Life: I Have Another Life on the Web" and aired in 2008, followed three people who have alter egos online that greatly differ from who they are in reality. Amy used Second Life and she had two avatars, or alter egos. The first is named Keiko, an avatar that resembles her, and her second alter ego is Mama Shepard, a 38 year old widow, who owns and operates a virtual bakery. Amy was completely involved in her virtual world. Ben Rosen, the producer of this True Life episode, explained that Second Life houses a lot of people obsessed with their "other lives" in this virtual world.[140] With its own currency, job opportunities, and shopping options, Second Life allows for endless possibilities for avatars and endless opportunities for the people playing on Second Life.

Italian popstar Irene Grandi released a music video for her major chart hit "Bruci la città" in 2007 almost entirely filmed within Second Life featuring her own lifelike avatar.[141]

Jonathan Lethem's 2009 novel Chronic City features a game called Yet Another World—which closely resembles Second Life—as a major plot point in the second half of the story.

Additionally, the 2010 satirical graphic novel Other Lives by Peter Bagge features a fictional game, Second World, that is closely based on Second Life.

Second Life is featured prominently in a scene from the 2010 movie Hot Tub Time Machine. The character Jacob is playing as his avatar Jacob Morlim in-world, and the scene shows several shots of Second Life gameplay.[142]

In an episode of The Big Bang Theory, Sheldon Cooper asks one of his friends if they would like to play Second Life and go virtual swimming, since he does not like the water in real life.

In My Avatar and Me, a 2010 Danish "documentary fantasy" by Bente Milton and Mikkel Stolt, a man enters Second Life to pursue his personal dreams and ambitions. His journey into cyberspace becomes a magic learning experience, which gradually opens the gates to a much larger reality. The film stars Stolt and features cameos by Long Now co-founder Danny Hillis and the Foundation's Nevada site.[143]

The German documentary Login2Life—which aired first on public broadcasting station ZDF on October 17, 2011—portrays 7 people who have found an alternate home in Second Life and World of Warcraft.[144]

The feature-length documentary Life 2.0[145] follows a group of people whose lives are dramatically transformed by Second Life.

In October 2013, singer-songwriter Liza Fox released a machinima music video "You Turn Me On"[146] filmed by Pia Klaar based on the song of the same title[147] in the 3D virtual world Second Life.

In the Disney XD show "Kirby Buckets", character Eli plays a game called "Other Life", a spin on Second Life.

See also[edit]

Active Worlds

The Alphaville Herald

București, destinație turistică în Second Life

Bucureștiul este pe locul 3 ca trafic și popularitate în rețeaua Sister Cities (toate orașele reprezentate în Second Life sunt unite în această rețea și oferă teleportare direct[ dintr-un loc în altul), fiind depășit doar te Torino și Milano.

Agenție: Rogalki Grigoriu Public Relations
Client /companie: Chase Corp
Numele campaniei: Virtual Bucharest in Second Life
Tipul campaniei: Lansare produs virtual 3D
Perioada de desfășurare: 15 noiembrie 2008 – on going

Obiectivele campaniei:

• promovarea proiectului în comunitatea de business (oportunități de promovare pentru branduri și companii);
• atragerea de noi utilizatori pe platforma 3D – promovare în mediul online (bloguri / rețele socializare) și mass-media (print, tv, radio).

Context și situația pieței

România sfârșitului de an 2008. Imaginea de țară suferă foarte mult din 3 motive: românii înșiși care și-au pierdut încrederea în valorile țării lor, românii care pleacă în afară și care promovează acolo o imagine negativă despre Romania, simțind că nu au puterea să afirme că sunt români, și străinii care au o imagine deformată despre România, indusă de mass media și de alți români. Sunt 3 aspecte în care predomină o imagine negativă. Sursa imaginii negative se datorează, în primul rând, stării de dezinformare și delăsare, lipsei de responsabilitate civică și de educație, manifestată prin fapte, prin dorința de a schimba, de a promova valorile României care există și așteaptă să fie comunicate adecvat. Sunt oameni care doresc să își asume un rol educativ, care au convingerea că singurii care pot schimba ceva, care pot contribui calitativ la creșterea brandingului de țară în viitor sunt tinerii. Ultimii vor fi “surprinși” în chiar mediul lor – media interactivă 3D – locul unde brandingul de țară va fi abordat dintr-o perspectivă fun, ușor acceptată și integrată de aceștia. VIRTUAL BUCHAREST/ROMANIA își are premisa într-un obiectiv clar: “Crearea brandigului de țară dintr-o perspectivă fun, accesibilă tinerilor români, în Second Life”.

Virtual Romania este un proiect de promovare a României prin intermediul celei mai avansate platforme de internet 3D – Second Life și se bazează pe reconstrucția în detaliu a unor orașe și locuri din România și promovarea valorilor românești în comunitatea internațională. Conceptul urmează trendul internațional al dezvoltatorilor de spații virtuale prin crearea așa numitelor "mirror-worlds" – spații virtuale care reproduc locații din realitate și care atrag un numâr mare de utilizatori.

În prima etapă a fost reprodusă Piața Revoluției din București. Comparativ cu site-urile clasice de internet (în 2 dimensiuni) – spațiile virtuale tridimensionale au avantajul caracterului imersiv (realitate virtuală incipientă) atrăgând comunități semnificative de utilizatori cu capacități peste media utilizatorului tradițional de internet (tineri, foarte orientați către tehnologie, trend setteri, creatori de conținut online).

Proiectul a pornit de la premisa că brandingul de țară începe, în primul rând, cu noi înșine, înainte de locuri, oamenii sunt imaginea țării și dacă nu suntem mulțumiți de această imagine, stă în puterea noastră să o schimbăm. Datorită facilităților de simulare a realității pe care platforma Second Life le pune la dispoziția utilizatorilor, Virtual Bucharest este un cadru ideal pentru a testa idei și concepte, obiectivele fiind multiple:

• Virtual Bucharest să devină locul de întâlnire al românilor în Second Life (cea mai mare comunitate de români din spațiul virtual tri-dimensional);
• Schimbarea mentalității de "critică pasivă" (nu ne place dar nu facem nimic pentru a schimba, dăm vina pe politicieni, sistem și ceilalți semeni sau ne mulțumim cu "asta este") – prin răspândirea virală a unor concepte motivaționale cu aplicație în viața reală (de exemplu Bucureștiul este un oraș frumos, ce merită descoperit);
• Promovarea valorilor românești la nivel internațional cu ajutorul comunității de români din Second Life. Crearea cadrului social în care utilizatorii străini pot interacționa cu românii și afla mai multe despre România. Promovarea artei și a culturii românești, trezirea interesului străinilor de a vizita România;
• Promovarea companiilor și a brandurilor românești, atât în comunitatea de utilizatori români din Second Life, cât și la nivel internațional. Familiarizarea companiilor cu capacitățile extinse ale platformei (simulări, realizare produse în 3D, interactivitate multiplă, advergame-uri);
• Formarea unei echipe de voluntari pro-activi, folosirea capacităților de colaborare ale platformei pentru simularea unei structuri organizaționale eficiente, dar non-conformistă

Obiective

Ca orice platformă inovativă, Second Life este greu de definit și de cele mai multe ori este perceput ca un joc multiplayer online. Campania s-a concentrat pe oraș și pe ideea de București virtual, plus avatajele pe care le oferă mediul online 3D (capacitate de simulare, interacțiune la nivele multiple, comunicare și promovare virală). Clădirile și execuția grafică a reprezentat cârligul prin care au fost aduși în mediul virtual utilizatori noi (curiozitate / dorința de explorare), urmând ca de aici să construim o comunitate autentică de români mândrii de țara lor.

Etape

• promovarea în comunitatea de business înainte de lansare;
• campania de promovare: pentru publicul român (online, tv, presă scrisă) și pentru utilizatorii SL din străinătate (bloguri internaționale care scriu despre Second Life).

Rezultate

Înainte de lansare, traficul era estimat undeva la 7.000 pe zi. În prima zi, traficul mediu a fost de 12.000. Ulterior, traficul mediu zilnic s-a stabilizat în jurul valorii de 40.000.
În februarie, proiectul a ocupat locul 6 în Showcase la secțiunea Arts & Culture – Showcase este o secțiune de recomandări de locații din Second Life, unde fiecare listing este aprobat de Linden Lab (deținătorii platformei). Prin intermediul acestei secțiuni se obține trafic din comunitatea internațională – cam 20% din traficul simului sunt străini interesați de România. Un alt canal aducător de străini interesați de România este rețeaua Sister Cities – toate orașele reprezentate în Second Life sunt unite în această rețea și oferă teleportare directa dintr-unul în altul – ideală pentru turistul virtual. Bucureștiul este pe locul 3 ca trafic și popularitate între toate aceste orașe, fiind depășit doar te Torino și Milano.

Ca profil, românii din Virtual Bucharest sunt foarte tineri – 65% din publicul care vine în Virtual Bucharest (reprezentativ pentru comunitatea de români din Second Life) au vârste cuprinse între 18 și 25 ani, 15% sunt între 26 – 30 ani, 17% au până în 40 ani și doar 3% peste 40 ani.

Evoluția traficului în Virtual Bucharest

12.221 este traficul atins de Virtual Bucharest în ziua deschiderii, iar 20.296 a fost limita maximă a traficului în Virtual Bucharest în prima săptămână de la lansare. Pragul a fost atins în zilele de 1 și de 2 decembrie, când Virtual Bucharest, replica 3D a centrului Bucureștiului real, a găzduit petreceri și alte evenimente speciale cu ocazia Sărbătorii Naționale a românilor.

În prima lună de la lansare, traficul mediu a fost de 16.350. Traficul se datorează și lansării în premieră în România a primei expoziții de fotografii cu imagini din perioda Bucureștiului de altădată. Galeria foto este localizată în clădirea Ateneului Român din Virtual Bucharest și își propune să ofere românilor și străinilor care ajung aici o perspectivă diferită asupra orașului, o întoarcere în timp, în perioada în care Bucureștiul era supra-numit „micul Paris”.

În cea de-a doua lună de la lansare, Virtual Bucharest este listat pe locul 6 la secțiunea Arts & Culture și pe locul 28 global în lista celor mai bune locații din Second Life.
La mai puțin de 3 luni de la lansare, Virtual Bucharest atingea deja un trafic zilnic mediu de 45.432, cu un record absolut în data de 2 februarie, când a atins cifra de 76.589. În termenii spațiului virtual, proiectul era deja un succes, între orașele reprezentate în Second Life fiind pe locul al treilea, după Torino și Milano.

Virtual Bucharest susține tinerii antreprenori români
La numai 4 luni de la deschidere, Virtual Bucharest a devenit cel mai popular land românesc din Second Life și promotorul creativității românești la nivel internațional. Cu un trafic mediu zilnic de 35.000 și cu o comunitate activă de utilizatori, Virtual Bucharest găzduiește și susține antreprenorii români care doresc să-și promoveze produsele și serviciile pe platforma virtuală Second Life. Aproximativ 20% din traficul Virtual Bucharest este format din străini care vin să viziteze sau să facă cumpărături în orașul virtual. Fie că sunt branduri exclusiv virtuale – Meghindo, 24 Shoo–Shoes, CIOF Architecture, Cartoon Kids, Noblesse Fashion, Baraka sau Builder’s Aids sau branduri reale, care folosesc platforma pentru capacitățile ei interactive – Kiss FM, blocuri.com sau Rogalski Grigoriu Public Relations, în Virtual Bucharest toți aceștia beneficiază de trafic, expunere, vânzări și interacțiune cu comunitatea la cel mai înalt nivel.

Virtual Bucharest – campanie de lansare în cifre

• 59.935 Euro, valoare calculată la Rate Card;
• 12.999.922 – audiență;

Anshe Chung si locuintele pe care le vinde sau inchiriaza

McDonalds in Second Life

Coca Cola

IBM

Dell

Peugeot

Sony

Adidas

BMW

Mass media: Reuters

Big brother

Panoul de votare din Big Brother

Mentionez ca singurul Big Brother sustinut in Second Life a fost castigat de o editoare lay-out din Budapesta. Ea a primit cadou o insula.

Second Life ofera 2 platforme, una pentru adulti de (18+) si cealalta pentru adolescenti. Platforma destinata adultilor are trei clasificari:

General – nu este permisa violenta, aici au loc cursuri pentru studenti, cursuri de ajutor medical, exista cabinet de psihologie si firme de detectivi. Mai au loc concerte de muzica, expozitii, aici sunt construite orasele virtuale printre care as mentiona: Paris, New York, Bucuresti, unde constructorii reproduc cladiri faimoase ale oraselor. Este un PR excelent.

Moderat – este permisa

Moderate (formerly "Mature"—some violence, swearing, adult situations, some nudity)

Adult (may contain overt sexual activity, nudity, and violence)

Residents and avatars[edit]

Main article: Resident (Second Life)

A human female avatar

Several avatars together

There is no charge for creating a Second Life account or for making use of the world for any period of time. Linden Lab reserves the right to charge for the creation of large numbers of multiple accounts for a single person (5 per household, 2 per 24 hours)[32] but at present does not do so. A Premium membership (US$9.95 monthly, US$22.50 quarterly, or US$72 annually) extends access to an increased level of technical support, and also pays an automatic stipend of L$300/week into the member's avatar account, and after 45 days that resident will receive a L$700 bonus, making it L$1,000 for that week. This amount has decreased since the original stipend of L$500, which is still paid to older accounts. Certain accounts created during an earlier period may receive L$400. This stipend, if changed into USD, means that the actual cost for the benefit of extended tech support for an annual payment of US$72 is only about US$14, depending on the currency exchange rates. However, the vast majority of casual users of Second Life do not upgrade beyond the free "basic" account.

Avatars may take any form users choose (human, animal, vegetable, mineral, or a combination thereof) or residents may choose to resemble themselves as they are in real life.[33] They may choose even more abstract forms, given that almost every aspect of an avatar is fully customizable. Second Life Culture consists of many activities and behaviors that are also present in real life. A single resident account may have only one avatar at a time, although the appearance of this avatar can change between as many different forms as the Resident wishes. Avatar forms, like almost everything else in Second Life, can be either created by the user, or bought pre-made. A single person may also have multiple accounts, and thus appear to be multiple Residents (a person's multiple accounts are referred to as alts).

Avatars can travel via walking, running, vehicular access, flying, or teleportation. Because Second Life is such a vast virtual world, teleportation is used when avatars wish to travel instantly and efficiently. Once they reach their destination, they may travel in more conventional means at various speeds.

Avatars can communicate via local chat, group chat, global instant messaging (known as IM), and voice (public, private and group). Chatting is used for localized public conversations between two or more avatars, and is visible to any avatar within a given distance. IMs are used for private conversations, either between two avatars, or among the members of a group, or even between objects and avatars. Unlike chatting, IM communication does not depend on the participants being within a certain distance of each other. As of version 1.18.1.2, voice chat, both local and IM, was also available on both the main grid[34] and teen grid.[35] Instant messages may optionally be sent to a Resident's email when the Resident is logged off, although message length is limited to 4096 bytes.[36]

Economy[edit]

Main article: Economy of Second Life

An avatar in the virtual world Second Life

User generated content in the virtual world Second Life

Second Life has an internal economy and internal currency, the Linden dollar (L$). L$ can be used to buy, sell, rent or trade land or goods and services with other users. The "Linden" can be exchanged for US dollars or other currencies on market-based currency exchanges. Linden Lab reports that the Second Life economy generated US$3,596,674 in economic activity during the month of September 2005,[37] and in September 2006 Second Life was reported to have a GDP of $64 million.[38] In 2009, the total size of the Second Life economy grew 65% to US$567 million, about 25% of the entire U.S. virtual goods market. Gross resident earnings are US$55 million in 2009 – 11% growth over 2008.[39] In 2013 Linden Labs released an info graphic that showed that over 10 years $3.2 billion in transactions for virtual goods had exchanged between Second Life residents, with an average of 1.2 million daily transactions.[40]

There is a high level of entrepreneurial activity in Second Life. Residents of Second Life are able to create virtual objects and other content. Second Life is unique in that users retain all the rights to their content which means they can use Second Life to distribute and sell their creations, with 3.1 million items listed on its online marketplace.[40] At its height circa 2006, hundreds of thousands of dollars were changing hands daily as residents created and sold a wide variety of virtual commodities. Second Life also quickly became profitable due to the selling and renting virtual real estate. 2006 also saw Second Life‍ 's first real-world millionaire; Ailin Graef, better known as Anshe Chung (her avatar), converted an initial investment of $9.95 USD into over one million dollars over the course of two and a half years. She built her fortune primarily by buying, selling, and renting virtual real estate.[41]

Major tech corporations have tried to use Second Life to market products or services to Second Life‍ 's tech-savvy audience. For example, IBM purchased 12 islands within Second Life for virtual training and simulations of key businesses processes. Musicians, podcasters, and news organizations (including CNET, Reuters, NPR's The Infinite Mind, and the BBC) all established a presence within Second Life.[42]

Virtual goods include buildings, vehicles, devices of all kinds, animations, clothing, skin, hair, jewelry, flora and fauna, and works of art. Services include "camping", wage labor, business management, entertainment, and custom content creation (which can be broken up into the following six categories: building, texturing, scripting, animating, art direction, and the position of producer/project funder). L$ can be purchased using US dollars and other currencies on the LindeX exchange provided by Linden Lab, independent brokers or other resident users. Money obtained from currency sales is most commonly used to pay Second Life‍ 's own subscription and tier fees; only a relatively small number of users earn large amounts of money from the world. According to figures published by Linden Lab, about 64,000 users made a profit in Second Life in February 2009, of whom 38,524 made less than US$10, while 233 made more than US$5000.[43] Profits are derived from selling virtual goods, renting land, and a broad range of services.